Assassin's Creed 4: Black Flag reveals seven minutes of gameplay

Ubisoft has released seven minutes of gameplay footage showing off its upcoming high seas adventure Assassin's Creed 4: Black Flag.

Here we get to see new protagonist Edward raid a corpse for a treasure map, which shows us an artist's rendering of the booty's location, Red Dead Redemption-style. In this particular instance, it's on an island called "mysteriosa," which seems to emanate from the "unobtanium" school of heavy-handed monikers.

The treasure, as it turns out, is a blueprint for a ship upgrade. Why anyone would design such a thing only to stash it away in a secret chest is anyone's guess. Perhaps that enhanced broadside cannon was deemed too dangerous for human consumption?

We also get to see some rousing naval combat where you can freely hop back and forth between ships before inevitably impaling the enemy captain - at which point everyone just sort of gives up, as that was the polite thing to do in those days. Upon defeating an adversarial vessel, you can strip it for parts, recruit its crew, or send it to your fleet.

Assassin's Creed 4: Black Flag is due on 1st November on Xbox 360, PS3 and Wii U. PS4, Xbox One and PC versions will follow shortly after.